


Caught Up

by Too_Kute_To_Kill



Category: The Flash (TV 2014), The Flash - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, I’ll add more tags as I go, Lions and eels and sharks, M/M, Merkin - Freeform, mermaid, merman, oh my!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-12
Updated: 2018-11-25
Packaged: 2019-05-21 13:29:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,412
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14916239
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Too_Kute_To_Kill/pseuds/Too_Kute_To_Kill
Summary: Barry Allen, a lion fish merman, has found himself in a rather odd situation. Why does everyone keep trying to eat him?





	1. Minding Your Own Buisness

**Author's Note:**

> Hey guys. So this is my first ColdHeatFlash, or whatever it’s called, fic. I absolutely adore this ship. But anyway, this is me sorta just testing the waters (ha! Pun intended) so don’t expect frequent updates #sorrynotsorry.

Barry swam along the bottom as he looked for any mollusks along the ground. His tentative fingers brushed over more sand, rocks, and almost a stingray, but that was why he was being so careful. He apologized to the stingray for being so close and went about his way. If anyone hasn’t noticed yet, but a lot of people probably haven’t, Barry is a lion fish mer. He was very proud of his spikes as they were well groomed and still all there. He sighed and played with the sand some more. He thought about going to see Iris today, but he really just didn’t feel like it. Today had just been kind of weird for him. He woke up too early due to... something... He eerily felt like someone or thing was watching him. He shivered and shoved his hand deep in the sand. He’s always been advised not to do this but something about the soft sand really calmed him.

“You sure you should be doing that?” A slow voice drawled behind him. Barry turned around fast to see a set of jaws coming for him. He gasped and swung his body towards the newcomer, somehow only managing to body slam him away. For a better getaway, he blew a stream of water at the attacker and turned him around. He quickly swam away and hid in some big coral. Was that an... eel? Barry’s father had always warned him that eel who get desperate for food would sometimes. He watched from a great distance as the eel turned around and rubbed at his jaw. The eel looked around desperately before sighing. He settled down in the sand with a sad face. Barry almost felt bad before remembering the eel tried to eat him. He huffed at his good natured heart before slowly approaching the eel.

“You sure you’re supposed to do that?” The eel’s head snapped up with surprise written across his face before looking down sadly again.

“At this point I don’t care.”

“I can help you find food.” Really, curse Barry’s heart. The eel slowly looked up skeptically. “What? You eat crab and whatnot right?”

“I prefer fish,” the eel drawled. He looked at Barry pointedly. Barry shivered.

“Let’s not eat me, and I’ll help you find... fish. Why would you want to eat a full fledged merman anyway?”

The eel sighed. “Ask me my name before you ask for my backstory,” he scoffed. 

“Well then, what is your name?” Barry asked. More skepticism greeted him. “You asked me to ask. I’m Barry.”

“You can call me Cold.”

“That’s not your name.”

“Well kid, I’m not as naive as you are.”

Barry huffed and crossed his arms. “I don’t have to help you.” Barry yelped as Cold lunged. He had his arms clamped over Barry’s before the lion fish could even blink. Barry felt the eel’s jaws slide along his neck. Curse his heart! He squeezed his eyes shut, waiting for the pain of death. And waited. And waited. A nose brushing along his jugular made his eyes pop open.

“It would be a shame to eat you. After all, you’re a very pretty lion fish. I’ve hear those kind of merkin are rare.” Really? Barry had never encountered another lion fish mer besides his family but he always assumed they just lived far away from others. “I think I’ll just keep you around. Play with you a bit. After we find food of course.” Cold grabbed Barry’s hand and started swimming in... some direction. Barry tried prying Cold’s hand off, but it proved to be and impossible task. He sighed an angry sigh before giving up and letting himself be dragged along.

“Where are we going?” Barry asked.

“Where the fish are. Or crabs.”

They arrived at a fuller coral side. Most likely where Cold was currently staying, but it appeared dead. The coral were all a grayish to their original color and the only fish Barry saw were poisonous ones and other eels. “I’m not sure I should be here,” Barry muttered. What if there was another eel mer here?

Cold seemed to read his mind. “Don’t worry. It’s just my sis and I here. She won’t touch what’s mine. Besides she’s the one who does prefer crabs.” Cold laughed and tugged Barry along. Barry hummed unreassuringly. They swam only a little bit further before someone surprised them.

“Boo!” Barry will never admit to give an unearthly shriek at the sudden appearance of the, who he presumed to be, sister. Now that Barry could really look, Cold’s tail was a dark blue with dark spots entirely covering it while his sister was a pure, bright yellow.

Cold laughed. “This is my sister, Barry. We vary in color if ya hadn’t notice; we had different mothers. Both moray eels though, strangely enough. Anyway, c’mon sis. Barry here is gonna help us hunt.” He motioned at his sister and then started dragging Barry off again. 

The sister waved at Barry. “You can call me Gold,” she hollered at him.

“What is with you two and nicknames?”

“Trust me, kid. You don’t wanna know.” Gold snickered at Cold’s response. “We’re coming up to our usual hunting grounds. Be on the look out.”

“Maybe that’s your problem,” Barry muttered.

“What?”

“Maybe you’ve hunted out your grounds. You probably need to look into more places.” Cold considered Barry’s words before Gold swam up to whisper in his ear. Cold shook his head. “I already tried to eat him. He body slammed me. I nearly had a run in with one of his spikes if I hadn’t shifted.” Gold turned to glare at Barry, but Cold snapped his fingers in her face. “Don’t hate a mer for defending themselves. What would you’ve done had someone tried to eat you? Also, you just asked if we could eat him, hypocrite.”

Gold sighed and smiled apologetically at Barry. She leaned closer to whisper to him, even when he tried to lean further away. “He’s been desperate for food lately. He thinks he still has to feed me,” at this point her voice picked up. “Even though I can feed myself.”

Barry watched as Cold threw up a middle finger. He didn’t quite understand that gesture. Gold seemed to though as she mockingly gasped in horror. Apparently it wasn’t a very good gesture. Maybe something they picked up from the land dwellers. 

“Where are we going?” Barry asked a second time. 

“In all good time, Angel. I’ll give you a hint; warmer grounds.” Cold turned his head around to wink at Barry. A blush started to creep onto Barry’s face before he shook his head quickly. The eel had tried to eat him earlier; it wouldn’t do to start liking him. Once Barry showed them better grounds, he’d sneak off. They probably wouldn’t mind either. Not many predators interacted with lion fish. He saw his chance when the eels both rounded a giant rock without him. Their view would be completely blocked long enough for Barry to silently slip away. And he’s would’ve too, if something else hadn’t roughly bitten him on the tail.

“Barry!”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I haven’t updated this story in so long but I started college, and it’s been crAzy. I literally have no free time except for breaks and that’s when everyone wants to hang out with me. It’s all very tiring and it’s taken literally all my creativity...
> 
> But here’s this so enjoy!

“What the hell is this?!”

Barry whipped around as fast as he could to see what in the ocean was biting at his tail. Luckily it felt like it hadn’t broken scales. He snarled and started scratching at the... shark? It was also a merman it seemed, from the bulging muscles and large, bald head. But the gray skin and long dorsal fin gave away it was a shark. But what type of shark would be this close to the reef? Barry didn’t care, he cared why this stupid fish was latching onto him. 

“Hey, hey!” The shark hollered as Barry kept scratching. 

Barry heard Cold start laughing behind him. A sigh seemed to come from his sister, but Barry wasn’t letting go until this shark did. “Let him go, Mick,” Cold said after calming down.

“Ah, Lenny. What’re you doing out here?” The shark, Mick, turned towards Barry before ‘Lenny’ could respond. “Sorry, kid. Bad eyesight, ya know. Just saw something pretty flash by.”

Barry tried to keep his blush down. “So you try to eat it?!” Barry shrieked. While the bite hadn’t broken anything, Barry’s tail was sensitive. It still hurt from when he body slammed Cold. 

The grin that spread over the shark’s face should have been outlawed. Barry wouldn’t be able to stop his blush now. Cold coughed pointedly behind them before Mick opened his mouth. “Sorry, Mick,” Cold purred. “This one’s spoken for. Besides we’re going to get some food, you’re welcome to come.” He grabbed Barry’s arm as he spoke, dragging him back in the direction they were heading.

“We could share.” That stopped Cold... well, cold. Barry nearly snorted at the pun in his head. Cold seemed to consider what Mick said before smiling coyly.

“We’ll see.”

Barry really didn’t like the sound of that. “Who says I wanna be with either of you? You both tried to eat me.”

“You tried to eat him?!” The shark burst into loud laughter. Barry rolled his eyes and went to talk to Gold. 

Cold glared. “I was hungry, you ass.”

Mick brushed away an imaginary tear. “I’ve known you many years, and you’ve never attacked another mer. What really made you?” Cold grumbled and looked pointedly at Barry, who was now discussing feeding grounds with Gold. “You didn’t try to eat him, did you? Just wanted an excuse to get close.”

Cold smirked. “And it worked perfectly, didn’t it?”

“But now the kid thinks you’re gonna eat him.” Cold shrugged. He’d figure out how to get around that later. But what the predators didn’t know was that Barry was listening...

“Anyway, I’ll bite.” Mick winked at Barry. “Where are we going?”

“You’ll see,” Cold replied.

“Hey! I ain’t the kid.”

“Yeah, but the kids listening.”

“I’m not a kid,” Barry yelled. “I’ve matured.”

Cold and Mick just shrugged at him. “Look like a kid, talk like a kid; it’s a kid. Besides we’re probably a lot older than you.” Mick smirked. 

Barry huffed and didn’t respond. “You boys stop teasing Barry now. Besides we’re here.” Gold gestured out to the most colorful reef Barry had ever seen. A hand snaked around his waist as he stopped to take in everything. Barry barely even noticed it. Bright oranges, pinks, yellows, reds. It was like a lumpy sunset underwater. 

“Colorful, isn’t it?” Cold whispered near Barry’s ear. It caused a light shiver to run down his spine. Barry hastily moved from Cold’s arm.

“Too colorful for me.” Barry nearly jumped as Mick appeared next to him. He showed that deadly smirk to Barry again. Now that Barry had a closer look, he noticed that Mick never really looked him in the eyes. He would briefly, but those eyes were always roaming like they couldn’t stop. “What cha staring at, doll? My good looks?”

Barry felt the blush start and spread down his neck. He snapped his head away and looked at the reef once more. “How’s it too colorful for you?” Barry asked to divert the conversation.

“Ah, bright colors make it hard to see movement. Kinda draw my eye, take up my vision. It’s hard to explain.” Mick gestured at his face as he talked. He was always moving. Must be a shark thing. Barry had only ever met one shark before and if he never saw said shark again, it’d be too soon. But Barry nodded at Mick. He kind of understood. “Easy to spot you though.” Barry’s face was going to catch fire at this rate.

“Okay, chit chatters. Let’s get hunting,” Cold said.

“I’ll just... look around...” Barry trailed off.

Cold looked at him with an inquisitive brow. “You run off, Scarlet, I’ll find you.” Barry felt the blush again and nodded and swam off before Cold could see it.

But could Cold really find him? It was the ocean, Barry could literally go any way. What he didn’t see was another merman flat against the ocean floor, following him.

(I thought about leaving the story here and then I realized how short it was. I’m not that mean.)

Barry decided not to risk it and stayed along the edge of the reef. He really didn’t want any of his spines catching anything. Barry wasn’t a fool either. He saw the merman who lurked behind him, but he doubted this merman was going to do anything. The lurker kind of looked like... a catfish? 

“What do you want?” Barry called out as he turned over a colorful stone. Quite a nice shiny blue with a red belly. 

A slight squeal was his answer before whoever it was barreled into him. Well while that wasn’t what he thought was going to happen, he wasn’t really surprised. “Cold!” The random mermaid screamed. This confused Barry a whole lot. This merman knew Cold? And was grabbing onto Barry like he was... trying to keep him there? What???

Barry easily shook him off and pinned him to some coral. “What the hell?” Barry questioned the red fish? merman. 

“Cold! He’s trying to escape!” 

Cold appeared around the corner looking very... angry. Did he really care if Barry ran off? Barry rolled his eyes. Gold came around the corner over Cold’s shoulder. “Lisa! Lisa! Get him off me! Please!” Lisa rolled her eyes at the sniveling man.

“Don’t worry about him, Barry. That’s just Hartley,” Lisa stated. “He’s a simple red fish who does Len’s dirty spy work.”

Barry stared down at the small merman before finally letting up. He swam back a bit, but then stopped. “What is it, doll?” Mick asked. 

“Hartley was spying on me.” It was silent for a second. Barry rolled his eyes. “Was Hartley spying on me?”

“Yes,” Hartley squeaked as Cold said, “no.” Barry narrowed his eyes at Cold. Said man let out a huff before muttering a yes. 

“So how’d you tell Hartley to spy on me if you haven’t left my side?” A long silence stretched out. Lisa scratched her neck awkwardly. 

“This one’s on you, bro,” she said as she swam off. “I’m hungry.”

Mick looked between Barry staring down Cold who wouldn’t look Barry in the eye. “Yeah, I’m out to. Come find me when this is over, doll.” Mick winked in Barry’s direction before swimming in the direction Lisa went.

“Answer my question,” Barry demanded.


End file.
